What else happened at the January 11, 2012 meeting of the Savannah Chatham Public School Board?

Savannah-Chatham Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Lockamy reported on the state of the system in during the first board meeting of 2012.

Throughout most of his 7 year tenure Lockamy’s state of the system retrospectives have been given during the videotaped main meetings. This time he spoke at the end of the poorly attended, informal pre-meeting – perhaps because there were no big gains or major mid-year breakthroughs to report. After seven years of trying the district has yet to shake its Needs Improvement status. But Lockamy said they are making slow and steady gains, despite frequent curriculum and academic standard changes on the state and national level. He discussed all of the ongoing district reforms and presented statistics on recent gains.

“You will not see quantum leaps,” Lockamy said. “In those districts where you have seen quantum leaps the superintendents are no longer employed. Quantum leaps are suspect. But we have made steady progress.”

New changes in the way graduation rates are calculated will make it even harder for local public schools to meet rising graduation goals.

That’s bad news in a district that can’t afford to fall any farther behind in the education accountability system, called the No Child Left Behind Act. So Savannah-Chatham Public Schools officials are implementing the No Graduate Left Behind initiative. Their plan is to track down everyone who started high school four years ago but is not on track to graduate in June. The students and their parents will be required to meet with school officials in February to discuss individualized plans for getting them to graduate on time.

Currently Georgia’s public schools calculate graduation rates using the leaver rate method, which estimates the percentage of students who successfully complete high school. The method allows districts to over report transfers and under report dropouts, resulting in inflated graduation rates.

Next year all states will be required to use the more accurate federal four-year adjusted cohort rate calculation. It tracks all 9th graders that graduate within four years and accounts for transfers and students who are held back. The new method could adversely affect local schools that have been writing students off as transfers when they are unaccounted for.

Between 2003 and 2012 the public school system has changed the way it schedules high school courses three times.

In 2003 the district allowed high schools to choose from a variety of schedules – from a 90 minute block schedule and a modified block schedule, to the traditional schedule with six, 55-minute class periods each day. But officials said the variations made it hard to transfer credits and set schedules for students who transferred between schools in the system.

So in 2007 they implemented a Block 8 schedule at every high school. Students were enrolled in eight classes that met throughout the school year on an alternating basis. At the time they said it was more flexible, provided time for remediation, acceleration, enrichment activities and effective advisement, allowed students to travel to Woodville-Tomkins for technical and career classes and increased teacher collaboration time.

Wednesday the district announced that next year they will be moving back to a more traditional six period schedule with a seventh period instructional focus block. This schedule will be cheaper to operate because it requires fewer teachers and according to officials is more flexible, provides more time for remediation, acceleration, enrichment activities, teacher collaboration and effective advisement.

New schedule, same teachers

The new instructional focus block schedule to be implemented in the high schools next year may result in downsized teaching staffs at some schools, according to district officials. But they say that doesn’t mean teachers will be out of work. Academic Affairs staffer Linda Olson reported that a new high school will be opening up in West Chatham County and displaced teachers will likely have a place to go.

2012 School Board meeting schedule set

The school board set the following meeting schedule for 2012:

January 11, 2012

February 1, 2012

March 7, 2012

April 4, 2012

May 2, 2012

June 6, 2012

June 27, 2012 Special Board Meeting Budget/Millage Rate Adoption

July 11, 2012

August 8, 2012

September 5, 2012

October 3, 2012

November 7, 2012

December 5, 2012

Executive sessions will begin at 10:30 a.m., informal sessions at 1 p.m., and regular meetings at 3:00 p.m. There will also be a special board meeting on June 27 for the purpose of voting on the proposed FY 2013 budget and related matters.

Topsy turvy board terms

When former school board member Mickey Stephens left the school board for the state legislature he successfully persuaded local legislators to limit Savannah-Chatham school board terms to two years.

However, after much debate last year, the legislators restored the four year staggered terms. To get them back on a staggered schedule the terms of all nine board members will expire at the end of 2012. Elections for all board members, including the board president will take place July 31, 2012. All those elected in the July 31, 2012 election will begin their board service on January 1, 2012 and will serve the following terms which are designed to restore the staggered schedule:

Board President: will serve a two-year term with an election in 2014 for a four year term. No board president will be allowed to serve more than 8 consecutive years.

District 1: will serve a four year term

District 2: will serve a four year term

District 3: will serve a four year term

District 4: will serve a two year term with an election in 2014 for a four year term.

District 5: will serve a two year term with an election in 2014 for a four year term.

District 6: will serve a two year term with an election in 2014 for a four year term.

District 7: will serve a four year term

District 8: will serve a two year term with an election in 2014 for a four year term.

Dos vs. tres

Next year college bound students who enter high school will have to take two years of a foreign language instead of three. Most colleges only require incoming students to have two years of a foreign language and the state only requires two for graduation. However, the Savannah-Chatham Public Schools required three. Wednesday district officials lowered the requirement to align local requirements with the state and to free up class schedules so students will be able to follow the state’s new career pathway initiative.

Next year the state will require all students entering high school to select a career pathway from one of 17 broad career categories and take elective classes pertaining to that career.

Officials say students will still be encouraged to take more than two years of foreign language courses.

Superintendent’s Student of the Month

Groves High School senior Jasmine Henderson is the Superintendent’s Student of the Month for December. Jasmine has completed over 313 hours of community service. As a result she was given the opportunity to meet the Vice Chief of Staff of the

United States Army, General Peter W. Chiarelli, at the Pentagon. She maintains a 3.5 grade point average and serves as president of the FBLA and secretary of the student government. She is a member of the JROTC and the National Honor Society and represents Groves High School on the Chatham County Youth Commission.

Islands High Veterinary lab

The Islands High School Veterinary Lab project construction contract was awarded to

CNB Construction in the amount of $121,500.

May Howard addition

The recommendation to award Y-Delta, Inc. a $1,760,000 contract for the construction of additions to May Howard Elementary School was removed from the district's agenda.

Largo-Tibet addition

Dabbs-Williams General Contractors was awarded a $1,898,000 contract to construct additions to Largo-Tibet Elementary School.

Pre-K preference

The board approved a new policy, which in 2012-2013, will grant enrollment preferences to pre-kindergarten students at specialty schools. Previously pre-kindergarten students who completed a year at a public specialty school had to reapply for a kindergarten seat and go through the lottery selection process with no guarantee that they would be selected to return to the school the following year.

District 7 town hall meeting

District 7 School Board Representative Julie Gerbsch will host a town hall meeting to discuss seventh district school issues 6 p.m. Thursday January 19 Godley Station School.

New roof for Thunderbolt School

The board approved the use of $500,000 to repair the roof at Thunderbolt Elementary. Although there is no disputing that the timeworn school has issues with leaks and standing water, voters just approved the extension of the education sales tax, which will pay to build a replacement school for Thunderbolt. Board member Lori Brady asked why they would spend half a million dollars to replace the roof of a school that is slated for closure. Operations Chief Otis Brock said the roof is in immediate need of repair. The new roof will enable the district to continue using the school until the replacement school is completed and extend the life of the building so it can be used by the district for other purposes.

Mystery money

More than 20 years ago funding was set aside to endow Oatland Island. The Oatland Island Endowment Fund currently holds $37,000. However, it has been there so long no one in the district can remember if there are any stipulations for its use. District finance officials are currently investigating to see how the Oatland Island Education Center can use the funds.

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